Moo Ping (Market Style Barbecued Pork)

by Tataya Kudo - October 22, 2012

Bangkok traffic is the worst traffic you will ever see Sick smile

. When I was living in Thailand, I needed to wake up at 4 am. so that I could be off to the school by 5 am. and arrive school near 6 am. and then wait for 2 hours because classes didn't start until 8 am. And yet even so, sometimes I got stuck helplessly on the road for more than 2 hours, couldn't come to school in time; I was stranded, frustrated and very very hungry.

So I found my self needing to eat on the go pretty frequently. My mother usually packed me and my brothers something to eat on the way as it was almost impossible for her to make and serve enough healthy breakfast for three growing kids in such early morning . What she (and others traditional Thai mothers) did was getting some prepared foods from nearby morning market.

Our local morning market was lively, colorful and full of delicious cheap eats. My mother routine was to walk by 20 stalls or so and pick up what called out to her, whether it was a warm porridge full of soft pork ball, flavorful fish cakes drenched with sweet chilies sauce or a streamed bun or dim sum. But my favorite breakfast had to be charcoal grilled seasoned pork with spicy, savory dipping sauce: Moo Ping.

In case you don't already know, Moo Ping is market style barbecued pork popular as cheap tasty breakfast, picnic food and all time snack. Below is my moo ping with spicy dipping sauce recipe, try it out, I am sure you and your guests would welcome a skewer or two of freshly grilled pork with this spicy tamarind sauce.

Ingredients
Yields : 4 servings

12 hours
450 grams pork butt, cut into bite size pieces
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
1/2 tablespoon light soy sauce
2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
8 dashes fresh- ground black peppercorns
15 cloves Thai garlic
1 coriander root, pounded

for Moo Ping sauce
200 cc. tamarind concentrate
4 tablespoon fish sauce
3 tablespoon sugar
1/3 tablespoon palm sugar
1 tablespoon chilies powder

Preparation

1. Mix the pork with other ingredients. Massage with your hand for 10-15 minutes. Cover and let sit in the fridge overnight.

2. Take the marinated pork from the fridge. Insert the wooden skewer to the meat lengthwise. (You may soak the wooden skewers in some water for 1 hour so that they won't burn when you grill the pork.)